There’s a crazy amount of incredible, nationally-known talent, sure. But one of the most fantastic and outstanding things about Bridgetown as a force in comedy is its organizers’ commitment to seeking out, discovering and showcasing new and as-yet-unknown comics, many from the Pacific Northwest. This year’s festival received more submissions than any other year in its history (more than triple the number of submissions in 2011), and the festival organizers not only reviewed every single submission, but booked an incredible amount of its applicants. According to fest producer and curator Andy Wood, “Over half of this year's 200+ performers are making their Bridgetown debuts, and over 50 of this year's performers were unknown to us before they submitted online. A few names that fall into the unknown-to-us-but-awesome category are Sagar Bhatt, Mike McClowry, David Gborie, Kristen Studard, Sasheer Zamata, KC Arora, Casey Ley and Jesse Elias.”